Category: Health Insurance

Covenant Health recently announced that they will be offering a simple, cash based price for advanced imaging at their Fort Sanders West Diagnostic Center. This was my go to facility while in insurance based medicine. They’ve always been easy to work with and the reports have been good. So I’m very happy that another imaging center, let alone a hospital affiliated center, has entered the market with clear, cash pricing on advanced imaging. However, these prices may not be the lowest a patient can get in town and patients with government regulated insurance like Medicare, Tricare, and Tenncare don’t qualify for these discounts.

Part of my job as your physician is to help you sort out the best overall choice for your treatment and testing. Sometimes the price point is the biggest driver and sometimes the quality is. However, both always need to be considered. This is why we offer healthcare without hassles, built for you.

If you are interested in finding out more about the discounts available to DPC members around town and how to best navigate the healthcare landscape, then I invite you to become a member of our program and schedule your first appointment. We look forward to working with you.

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Trinity Direct Primary Care takes care of you. Pre-existing conditions are not a hinderance to care for us. Providing healthcare is our mission so we don’t charge more for patients with diabetes or hypertension. We don’t charge more if you smoke or have a family history of major illnesses. We just take care of you. Simple as that. Come see the difference. Call 244-1800 to sign up today.

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This morning I enrolled my 500th patient to the Direct Primary Care program. I’m thrilled to have crossed this milestone. It has been a rich blessing to meet new patients every week who participate with us in a vision for better healthcare. I’ve met and cared for patients from all walks of life, from all backgrounds, and from all demographics.

My youngest patients and their parents share with me that DPC offers easier access for those sudden illness like fevers and strep throat both in appointment scheduling and communication with me. Even today I’ve been able to address several issues with young mothers about their children which kept them from coming in for an office visit. When we can appropriately deal with the concern remotely there is no need for them to pile everyone into the minivan and drive down to the office. I can communicate and care for my patients in ways that simplify their busy lives.

The young adult and middle age group see DPC as a way to address their growing list of minor (and not so minor) health issues. So often they only need someone to counsel them on making good health decisions as they plan for their family’s future. An unusual chest pain or new onset heartburn often enough is harmless but, occasionally, concern sets in and they need someone to evaluate their symptom with an eye for resolution. Spending time addressing issues of nutrition, exercise, and sleep management yields large dividends for adults interested in choosing a future full of health and vitality. With many of our labs included in membership and the time to review them with each patient in person, I get to teach them how to manage their own health without the need of many ‘experts’ in their life and at a fraction of the cost.

Today’s 500th patient is now my 5th oldest patient. My elderly patients express to me that they value having someone with whom to sit and spend adequate time on their complex issues of multiple concerns, multiple medications, and multiple specialists. Modern insurance based care often runs too short on time for patients more deliberate in their movements and conversation. The extra time and energy to go the extra mile for these patients is so satisfying. Medical training teaches us what the right answer is but DPC let’s me provide the right answer for my patient in the right way.

If you’ve been following along with our progress over these last 2.5 years but haven’t jumped on board yet, now is the time to join. Come be part of a better healthcare world. DPC is a model where patients are the focus again. Call today at 244-1800 or sign up at trinitydpc.com. Feel free to email me directly at mbmccoll@trinitymedical.net if you have questions. We’re always happy to help. We are healthcare without hassles, built for you.

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I’m a big fan of small businesses. As a small business owner myself, I go to work everyday with the understanding that I’m working to benefit my community, my staff, and my family. If I lose sight of these responsibilities, then everyone will suffer.

Trinity Direct Primary Care offers other small business owners an option to care for their staff members through sponsored memberships. We all want team members who are healthy but have access to good quality care when needed at an affordable price. For the month of September I’m offering other small business owners a discount on sponsored membership. If an owner signs up their business which includes themselves and at least one non-family staff member then we’ll discount the registration fee to $35 per person and offer 10% off membership for everyone signed up.*

The sponsored membership plan works much like an individual plan does. The employer can purchase a membership plan for their employee which gives them full access to all the benefits of membership including no cost office visits, discounted labs, full access to their physician by phone and email during the business day, discounted medications mailed to their house, and discounted advanced imaging. Anything not covered by the membership would be the shared responsibility of the employee. For instance, if the employee needed a B12 injection the cost would still just be $6.40 to the employee billed at the time of service. This keeps the costs fixed and known to the business owner and allows the employee unparalleled access to exceptional, low cost care. Nothing fishy or hidden. We offer straightforward healthcare at transparent prices.

If you are a SBO and have been trying to figure out how to offer a competitive benefit to your staff, then this is a great opportunity for you. If you have any questions or if you need to sign up then please contact me directly at mbmccoll@trinitymedical.net

*Discounts apply only to new employer sponsored membership contracts and for one year as long as at least one non-family staff member remains enrolled.

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As so many of us are aware, the cost of healthcare, basic primary care, is skyrocketing. Patients are at the mercy of the industry pricing and they rarely know the cost before deciding to seek care. Many times the charged price is 10 times as much as the negotiated rate set by insurance companies and 20 times as much as the lab test actually costs to perform.

I joined the Direct Primary Care movement in 2016 to help patients find lower cost options for their healthcare. TDPC’s parent company, Trinity Medical Associates, has been innovating new ways to lower the cost of care for our community for years. Direct Primary Care has become a powerful force benefiting patients regardless of insurance coverage. When we are able to push the price lower everyone benefits.

In our program, we’ve been working with our national lab vendor to seek out lower cost prices. How has this worked out? So far we’ve been able to secure 60-90% savings off most all labs and many common labs are now so inexpensive for us to purchase, we provide them for free with membership.

For instance, the standard labs I use to manage diabetes like a Hgb A1c, a lipid panel, a kidney and liver function panel, and an insulin level are all free four times a year. That’s the normal follow up schedule for diabetes. These labs are so inexpensive it felt like the right thing to do to give them to patients without cost. I mean, I don’t charge for checking your blood pressure either.

Recently, one of my colleagues showed me a price list for common labs available to his patients. Generally, these prices are already at a discount from what is charged by medical practices so retail pricing might be even higher. I’ve overlaid the prices for my practice for comparison.

Well, you can see for yourself the cost differences in what you might pay somewhere else and the savings you’ll get through the Trinity DPC program. By lowering the cost of labs, patients have better access to primary care services regardless of insurance coverage. They can monitor and manage their chronic illnesses easier and, maybe, those illnesses become a little less chronic. Complications of these illness could improve which would lead to less death and disability in the people about whom I care. How much better would it be to not need dialysis or an amputation?

If you take this price list in total, the cost of all the labs through the Trinity DPC program is only $165. Through the regular, insurance based system the cost is $2562.74. Imagine meeting your deductible every year just because of the cost labs. We can offer patients a $2397.74 discount, a savings of 93.6%, just by avoiding the price fixing scheme of modern healthcare. What would you do with an extra $2397.74 in your pocket each year?

We still have an uninsured problem in the U.S., but we have a far broader health care affordability problem that hits sick people especially hard.

Why it matters: It’s time to think more broadly about who’s having trouble paying for the health care they need. The combination of lack of insurance and affordability affects about a quarter of the non-elderly population at any one time, but almost half of people who are sick.

Now that the Affordable Care Act has expanded health coverage, the percentage of the non-elderly population that is uninsured is now just under 11%, the lowest level ever recorded. But as the chart shows:

Another 15.5% who have insurance either skipped or delayed care because of the cost or reported that they or someone in their family faced problems paying their bills in 2017.

That brings the total percentage of non-elderly people with insurance and affordability problems to 26.2%.

More striking: nearly half of all people in fair or poor health — 46.4% — are uninsured or have affordability problems despite having coverage.

That includes 13.5% who were uninsured and in fair or poor health — arguably the worst off in the entire system — and another 32.9% percent who have insurance but said they or a family member have had a problem affording care in the last year.

It’s not surprising that people who are sicker and need more care would have more problems paying for it. But arguably an insurance system should work best for people who need it the most.

All this says a lot about current health care politics.

It helps explain why so many people name health their top issue, despite the progress that has been made in covering the uninsured. And everyone who’s sick and can’t afford medical care has family members and friends who see what they are going through, creating a political multiplier effect.

It is also why health care is substantially an economic issue as well as an issue of access to care. When people have trouble paying medical bills, it’s a hard hit to their family budgets — causing many people to take a second job, roll up more debt, borrow money, and forego other important family needs.

For as long as I have been in the field, we have used two measures more than any others to gauge the performance of the health system: the number of Americans who are uninsured and the percentage of GDP we spend on health. Both measures remain valid today.

The bottom line: If we want a measure that captures how people perceive the system when the number of uninsured is down and overall health spending has moderated, we need better ways of counting up the much larger share of the population who are having problems affording care.

And whatever big policy idea candidates are selling, from single payer on the left to health care choices on the right, the candidate who connects that idea to the public’s worries about paying their medical bills is the one who will have found the secret sauce.

Trinity Direct of Maryville

Trinity Medical Associates of Hardin Valley

Unlimited Access

Full service primary care means getting to see or speak with your doctor when needed.

We offer unlimited access with direct phone and email availability during the business day and up to 25 visits per calendar year.

Try it out:
Trinity Direct of Maryville:
865-980-8551

Trinity Medical Associates of Hardin Valley
865-244-1800

Controlled Costs

Good primary care shouldn't break the bank. That's why we include most labs and tests necessary to take care of you free of charge with membership. We don't charge you a per visit fee. No more worrying about if you're sick enough to justify the copay. If you need us, come see us.

Time to Talk

Trinity DPC believes patients need time to tell their story. Our visits are 30-60 minutes at minimum in an unhurried office environment. You’ll have time to share your concerns.

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